DB Click: ChildrenMarch 2009 For people seeking to address children and development issues and opportunities.
DB CLICK: Children updates you on recent children and development initiatives includingprogramme activities, awards, evaluation and research results, networks, books, othermaterials, planning ideas, change theories and other information recently placed on TheCommunication Initiative website.
DB CLICK: Children complements The Drum Beat through a specific focus on children anddevelopment. It will be published bimonthly (every second month).
DB Click: Children Community: 16,570CI Portal User Sessions, past 12 months: 2,651,548If you have been forwarded this newsletter by a colleague or friend and would like to subscribe to the DB Click: Children and The Drum Beat.
Please see the Early Child Development Theme Site - all CI information related to early childdevelopment in one place:
1. Counting on Communication - The Uganda Nutrition and Early Childhood Development ProjectThis series is designed to share innovations and lessons learned in the application ofstrategic communication in development projects. The series forms part of an effort byDevelopment Communication Division (DevComm) of the World Bank, together with otherorganisations, to mainstream the discipline of development communication in developmentpractice and, in this publication, offers a detailed analysis of the communication strategyused in the Uganda Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Project (NECDP)
2. Equity for Children - United StatesThe Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School in New York, the United States(US) has created an online forum dedicated to providing students, professors, academics, andpractitioners with a virtual space for learning, research, and communication on issues relatedto child poverty, rights, social and minority disparities, evaluation in the context ofdevelopment, and art and culture projects created by children. The goal of Equity for Childrenis to work together as a network to improve the living conditions of children worldwide byencouraging learning and discussion on the issue of how to ensure that every child is treatedwith the same respect and is offered equal opportunities...
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/282917/303 3. Darkness CallsThis is a story published in comic and video formats as a suicide prevention effort to raiseawareness and spark conversation among Aboriginal young people living in Canada. It is thestory of a teenager who is bullied at school, is misunderstood by his teacher, and feelssocially isolated from his family
4. World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child (WCPRC) The World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child (WCPRC) is an annual education andempowerment process for the rights of the child, democracy, the environment, and globalfriendship. Based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the WCPRC isdesigned to strengthen the voices of children and young people, promote their humanitariangrowth as global citizens, and support them in their quest to demand respect for the rights ofthe child.
5. CHINH - India, Global Centred around an annual community film festival and an interactive community website, CHINHis an effort to create media space for quality children's programming. CHINH is implemented byan Indian filmmaker named Meenakshi Vinay Rai and her husband as part of their effort tosupport social initiatives foregrounding the causes of children and marginalised communitiesby harnessing traditional wisdom, art, and culture - and by rediscovering them in contemporarycontexts.
6. A Resource Kit for Journalists: Children's Media Mentoring ProjectThis resource was developed as part of the South African-based Media Monitoring Project'sEmpowering Children & Media Project, which analysed and assessed the representation ofchildren in the South African news media. This resource kit is designed to provide journalistswith the necessary information to enable children's voices to become a part of daily mediacoverage, without violating children's rights, South African laws, or international norms andstandards.
7. Child, Maternal and Reproductive Health Awareness Initiative (CMH) - India The Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA)/India is organising a series ofhealth fairs, or melas, as part of the Child, Maternal and Reproductive Health AwarenessInitiative (CMH). The initiative's objective is to improve the health status of women,children, and adolescents in 32 villages in Barmer (a western district of Rajasthan in India)by increasing awareness of health issues and promoting the prevention of reproductive tractinfections, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV/AIDS transmission in the community.
8. Level UpLevel Up is a story published in comic format for the purpose of delivering the message thatstaying in school can provide lifelong advantages and opportunities for Canadian First Nationsyouth. The story and artwork uses the context of video gaming to raise awareness and sparkconversation among Aboriginal young people living in Canada.
PLEASE VOTE in our newest Early Childhood Development POLL:
What is the most persistent problem facing marginalised female children?Problem:* Lack of access to education.* Lack of inheritance and ownership rights.* Societal acceptance of sexual teasing and harassment.* Forced customs related to sexuality: e.g., FGM, arranged marriage, involuntary prostitution.VOTE and COMMENT at
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/288613/303~RESULTS from our recently closed Early Child Development Poll:When children are first entering school, it is most important to teach:73%: emotional/social skills.17%: healthy living.8%: languages other than their native one.3%: technological aptitude (e.g., how to use computers).
Without a child arriving at school having eaten a substantial and healthy breakfast, thechild's concentration level will drop quite swiftly. A balanced meal is essential to start theday but unfortunately the poor tend to think that more sugar in the diet leads to higherenergy, whereas the opposite is the case. I believe, and have witnessed the difference inchildren being fed a highly nutritious breakfast and those who start the day with a highcarbohydrate diet containing excessive amounts of sugar. Good Health through good nutrition ismost essentiaj for learning.""Emotional and Social skills are the essential tools for happy living and lay the foundationfor learning the others skills easily and quickly."
"HEALTH IS WEALTH!" "It is very essential to teach kids how to behave and what are the normal standard goodmanners in early school days. It is fundamental of learning process. I feel learning is notonly about books, computers but it is more about behaviour, manner, etiquettes, bonding andcaring. these can lead into developing great society.""I feel to build up the emotional skills along with social skills, will work as a good base tobuild upon,and with that healthy social conditioning process of education will become easierand more sensible." "It is important to teach emotional and social skills at an early age because it allowschildren to gain self-confidence so when they do, can easily learn languages and other skillseasily and effectively.""Relationships effect all aspects of life, from bosses, to peers, to handling situations andcommunicating.""Knowing only their native language limits children and so by teaching them another universallanguage their ability to learn is not only increased but they stand to learn more as theirunderstanding is broadened""School is a unique environment and opportunity to demonstrate equal rights, fairness,personal responsibility, regardless of family origin, etc.""Young children need to learn about emotional and social skills first as these skills willthen enable them to acquire other skills more easily through better receptivity to bothteacher/parent teaching and peer interactions. Healthy living is also very important and is tobe taught or rather transmitted (through not only speaking but also through imitation) fromthe onset. As for technology and second language acquisition, these are also important andshould be introduced as early as possible. But for the sake of argument, if you have to rate,emotional and social skills should come first to act as an enabler for the rest."
9. Learn Without Fear - Global Implemented by Plan International, Learn Without Fear is a campaign to end violence againstchildren in schools, with a particular focus on sexual violence, bullying, and corporalpunishment. Underpinned by the articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of theChild and the ethos of the Millennium Development Goals, the campaign is shaped by researchcarried out by Plan and also builds on the impetus created by the United NationsSecretary-General's Study on Violence against Children (UNVAC, 2006).
10. Kids Speak Out on Election in iReport Videos The iReport is an online video posting site that has given children and young people too young to vote in the United States presidential election a chance to express their politicalopinions and ideas. It is a website for user-generated video content made available by thenews service CNN.
CNN does not edit content, but places some of the content on its officialnews site, including content generated by young people...
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/28705911. Children's Soul - TurkmenistanLaunched in 2009, "Children's Soul" is a television show by and for children airing on theyouth channel Turkmenistan Yashlyk. Funded by the United Nations Children's Fund, theprogramme is an effort to broaden children's outlook and make them aware of their right toparticipate in their own development.
12. The Child Development Index Created by Save the Children UK, this resource includes is an online space, a report in PDFformat, and a spreadsheet of data for policymaking and development analysis worldwide. It is aglobal index comparing countries' performance on child well-being, using child-specificindicators in health, education and nutrition to rank countries in every region of the world,combining each country's performance in these areas specific to children, to produce a scoreon a scale of 0 to 100.
13. Jana Setha Sahana Foundation (JSSF) - Sri Lanka Founded in 1990, the national non-profit community development organisation All Sri Lanka JanaSetha Sahana Foundation (JSSF) has developed a variety of awareness programmes to educate, andshift the behaviour of, the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in the country. A networkof 4,500 volunteers carry out communication-oriented projects in the areas of general andpublic health, trafficking of children and women, education, economic empowerment, andrights-based activities, JSSF places special emphasis on the needs of schoolchildren, as wellas those living in Export Development Zones.
14. Red Hand Day Campaign - GlobalRed Hand Day is a worldwide grassroots initiative to demand stronger action by internationalleaders to end the use of child soldiers. Created by the Coalition to Stop the Use of ChildSoldiers, the campaign culminates each year on February 12 - the anniversary of the day theinternational United Nations treaty prohibiting the forced recruitment or use of childrenunder the age of 18 in armed conflict took effect. As part of this campaign, former childsoldiers and other youth organise awareness-raising activities to create and gather symbolic"red hands" (made of paper).
15. On the Turn This is a story published in comic format as a gambling prevention and treatment effort toraise awareness and spark conversation among Aboriginal young people living in Canada. It isabout a young woman who becomes addicted to poker through new school companions because ofsocial pressure, particularly the desire to have friends and have the same materialpossessions as her peers in her new school. The story was written and illustrated by aprofessional First Nations comic book artist.
16. Postpartum Family Planning for Healthy Pregnancy Outcomes: A Training ManualThis manual is intended to promote positive health outcomes for mothers, newborns, and infantsby improving health workers' skills in fostering healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy(HTSP). It provides practical information and guidance on how to conduct a two-day trainingfor primary health facility-based health workers in providing postpartum family planninginformation, education, and counselling, and in increasing postpartum women's access to allfamily planning methods and services.
Please also VOTE in our current ICT4D Poll:In general, e-Health initiatives are:* Lifesaving - in remote places where there are no alternatives and/or where providers are notadequately trained or are in short supply, these services are crucial and need to be supportedthrough training, funding, and research and development (R&D).* Dangerous - the evidence is not yet clear as to the viability of guiding physicians toprovide care from a distance.* Potentially useful, but prohibitively costly.
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Thank you from The Communication Initiative...where communication and media are central to social andeconomic development... Partners: ANDI, BBC World Service Trust, Bernard van Leer Foundation, Calandria, CFSCConsortium, CIDA, DFID, FAO, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano, Ford Foundation,Healthlink Worldwide, Inter-American Development Bank, International Institute forCommunication and Development, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center forCommunication Programs, MISA, PAHO, The Panos Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation, SAfAIDS,Sesame Workshop, Soul City, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, UNAIDS, UNDP,UNICEF, USAID, WHO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
